Pawlenty was Iowa GOP’s second choice — after Palin

Tim Pawlenty’s much-vaunted trip to Iowa takes a funny turn:  Minnesota’s governor was the state GOP’s second choice — after Sarah Palin.

The Des Moines Register reports that the party had “tried to line up” Sarah Palin for the gig back in July.

Of the selection, which Politico frames as “[a]nother step for Tim Pawlenty down the path to a presidential bid,” Wonkette writes, “It is too bad that the Iowa Republicans were unable to convince, with money, their first choice of speaker and instead had to settle for someone who did not quit their governorship.”